• About Us
    • Who We Are
    • Staff Bios
    • Meet our Animal Ambassadors
    • Contact Us
  • Emergencies
    • Caring for Injured Animals
    • Animal Drop-Off
    • Animal Care FAQ
  • How to Help
    • Donate
    • Become a Member
    • Affiliate Links
    • Capital Campaign
    • Wishlist
  • Volunteer
    • Volunteer TimeTracker Login
    • Apply Today
    • Daily Care
    • Hotline
    • Intake Window
    • Interpretive Guide
    • Medical Services
    • Orphan Care
    • Rescue and Transport
    • Teen Volunteer Opportunities
    • Wildlife Guardian
    • Volunteer Resources
  • Home
  • Conservation
    • Services Offered
    • Projects
    • Liberty Wildlife Non-Eagle Feather Repository
  • Education
    • Visiting Liberty and Private Tours
    • Education Program Request
    • Eagle Court of Honor Program Request
    • Field Trips – Traditional Classes
    • Field Trips – Homeschool
    • Zoom Program Request
  • Publications
    • Blog
    • Media Kit
    • Nature News
    • Nature Explorers
    • Wing Beats
    • Kid Activities
  • Events
    • Upcoming Events
    • Wishes for Wildlife
    • Calendar
    • Book an Event
  • Menu Menu
Liberty Wildlife

MVPs: The Native Bees

By Gail Cochrane

Liberty Wildlife Volunteer

The rains of winter have brought about a brilliant flush of wildflowers, and in the coming weeks clouds of blooms will enfold our native trees. The blossoming and fruiting of annual wildflowers and legume trees like ironwoods, Palo Verdes and acacias feed desert birds and mammals and attract insects that sustain baby birds. This is the season when pollinators such as native bees become our most important players.

There are around 1000 different species of bees in the Sonoran Desert. Specifically, the area around Tucson has perhaps more different kinds of native bees than anywhere else in the world.

These native bees come in many shapes and sizes and with many different habits. The world’s smallest bee, Perdita minima lives here, growing to just 2 millimeters in size.  You have probably noticed Carpenter bees from the genus Xylocopa bumbling around flowers in your yard. These gentle bees are 1 ½ inches long.

Most desert bees are solitary rather than colony bees. Herbivores, they feed on pollen, nectar and plant oils. Some species live in underground burrows, some hollow out the pithy stems of plants, and others live in tunnels abandoned by wood boring beetles. Many solitary bees secrete a waxy substance to line their burrows, capturing humidity inside and keeping fungi out.

Plants depend on bees and other pollinators, allowing for fruits and seeds that create new generations of their species. Birds and mammals eat the fleshy berries and fruits promised by pollination. Bee tunnels aerate the soil at the base of plants and direct rainwater to deep underground roots. Even bee waste (poop) is helpful, as it adds nutrients to the soil. Further enriching the desert biome, some bees become food for lizards, mammals, insects and spiders.

Unlike colonies of honey bees that live in hives, solitary bees raise their young in individual brood cells created in a variety of ways. Mason bees use water and mud to make adobe nests. Leaf cutter bees cut circular pieces of leaves to make cell walls. Other bees collect pebbles, plant hairs and floral resins for brood cell building materials.

As you walk among the flowering trees of the desert this spring, take time to listen to the resonant buzz of bees. Stop and admire the small, industrious workers humming among the blooms. Rather than insects to be afraid of, these critters are incredibly important to our web of life –  pollinating 80% of our native flowering plants.

Captions:

Cactus Bee pollinates prickly pear, saguaro and cholla cacti. Photo by Jengod – Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0

Perdita minima on the head of a Carpenter Bee.  Photo by Stephen Buchmann

Mexican Poppies and Scorpion Weeds on South Mountain.  Photo by G Cochrane

 

Kid Stuff

Nurturing Nature

By: Carol Suits

Liberty Wildlife Volunteer

Be a Superhero this month by helping nature get ready for spring.

Make a “Nester” – A holder for good nesting material.

Use these materials to build a nester

Dead twigs

Dead leaves

Dry grass

(no pesticides)

Feathers

Plant fluff

Moss

Bark strips

Pine needles

Don’t use these materials

Dryer lint

Plastic strips

Aluminum foil

Cellophane

Tinsel

String

Webbing/Mesh

(like onion bags)

This website has ideas for making nesters/holders.

https://www.greatstems.com/2013/05/wildlife-projects-for-kids-nesting-materials.html

Think about bird safety. Can birds land and fly away without getting trapped? For this reason, never use mesh bags — they can trap feet and legs or be a strangulation hazard.

Be sure to “test” your nester! Can birds easily pull out the material?

 

Be sure to join us March 11th when we start our “Partner Pals Program” with our Education Ambassadors!

 

If you would like more information about the Superhero Club, please contact Carol Suits, carols@libertywildlife.org for details.

Puzzle!

https://www.jigsawplanet.com/?rc=play&pid=1262c1661301

***

Try some of these and be a Superhero for Nature!

Actions To Take Habitat Activities
Make Make a Nature Notebook for your habitat work
https://thegreenhour.org/nature-notebook/fall-nature-notebook/
Draw Draw a habitat map of your backyard or schoolyard
Habitat need= food Make an orange cup feeder
Use recycled stuff to make bird feeders
Make a pumpkin or Cheerios bird feeder
Make a one-stop bee café
Habitat need = water Make a puddle patch for butterflies
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bsZYMH5xRTA
Make watering places for bees and butterflies
Make a birdbath
https://kids.nationalgeographic.com/books/article/make-a-birdbath/    
Habitat need = shelter Get help to build a wildlife home for birds, bats, bees, toads,
insects, butterflies. Pick animals you’d like to help.
Find out Find out and draw or list which plants are pollinator friendly
Draw Draw or list pollinators you see in your nature journal
Take photos Take photos of the pollinators visiting your yard
Make posters Make pollinator posters to put up in school and bring one
to the next Superhero Club meeting
Make Make a bee house for solitary bees – https://tinyurl.com/Solitary-bees-and-houses
All items with links and explanations can be found at
https://libertywildlife.org/nature-news-september-2022/
https://libertywildlife.org/nature-news-october-2022/

***

Explore Nature

When you go outside at home, school, or anywhere, can you discover nature’s sounds and beauty? What words or pictures come to mind?

See it! Hear it! Smell it! Feel it! Write it! Draw it!

This activity page is a fun way to get outside and explore nature!

NN February 2023 Kid Stuff

Meet Our Animal Ambassadors!

By Claudia Kirscher

Liberty Wildlife Volunteer

The Swainson’s Hawk is a widespread hawk of Western North America during spring and summer. Every autumn, it does one of the longest hawk migrations south for the winter to as far as Argentina and returns to North America to its spring nesting grounds….a 12,000-mile round trip ! They may also winter in Mexico and Central America. These hawks are one of the rare raptors to migrate in large flocks, sometimes numbering in the hundreds or thousands.

They favor open plains, grasslands, and agricultural areas foraging for insects, small rodents, lizards, and small birds. Swainson’s Hawks are often seen following tilling tractors grabbing ploughed up insects and rodents. There are two color variations, light and dark morphs.

Their populations have declined due to habitat loss of agricultural lands to housing development and use of pesticides.

Liberty Wildlife has 4 non-releasable Swainson’s Hawks.

Addison arrived in 2021 as a 1st-year bird from Yuma, AZ. She had folding fractures due to poor nutrition in captivity plus habitation. She has not yet molted into her full adult plumage.

Cassidy came to us in 2020, a 1st-year bird,  from Sierra Vista, Az.  She had been caught in barbed wire, broke her wing, and showed signs of an electrical injury which required subsequent partial wing tip amputation.

Sundance arrived in 2012 from Sierra Vista as a first-year juvenile having fallen from a nest. He sustained an impact injury to the abdominal area and also showed signs of imprinting.

Etta came to Liberty in 2012 from Sierra Vista as a 3-year-old. She had an old fused right wing/elbow fracture sustained as a juvenile. She is unable to fly.

Come on down to visit and hear their stories!

Recent Posts

  • This Week @ Liberty – March 14, 2023
  • Nature News February 2023
  • This Week @ Liberty – February 28, 2023
  • This Week @ Liberty – February 14, 2023
  • This Week @ Liberty – January 31, 2023

Archives

  • March 2023
  • February 2023
  • January 2023
  • December 2022
  • November 2022
  • October 2022
  • September 2022
  • August 2022
  • July 2022
  • June 2022
  • May 2022
  • April 2022
  • March 2022
  • February 2022
  • January 2022
  • December 2021
  • November 2021
  • October 2021
  • September 2021
  • August 2021
  • July 2021
  • June 2021
  • May 2021
  • April 2021
  • March 2021
  • February 2021
  • January 2021
  • December 2020
  • November 2020
  • October 2020
  • September 2020
  • August 2020
  • July 2020
  • June 2020
  • May 2020
  • April 2020
  • March 2020
  • February 2020
  • January 2020
  • December 2019
  • November 2019
  • October 2019
  • September 2019
  • August 2019
  • July 2019
  • June 2019
  • May 2019
  • April 2019
  • March 2019
  • February 2019
  • January 2019
  • December 2018
  • November 2018
  • October 2018
  • September 2018
  • August 2018
  • July 2018
  • June 2018
  • May 2018
  • April 2018
  • March 2018
  • February 2018
  • January 2018
  • December 2017
  • November 2017
  • October 2017
  • September 2017
  • August 2017
  • July 2017
  • April 2017

Donate

Help us reach our financial goals in treating 12,000+ animals per year.

Donate Now!

Donations are tax deductible.

Emergencies

If you have a wildlife emergency and are in need of assistance, contact us immediately.

If you do not reach someone right away, please leave a message and we will return your call as soon as possible.

480-998-5550

Drop Off

Have you found an injured animal in need of help? Bring them by our new facility.

2600 E. Elwood St.
Phoenix, AZ 85040

Map It

© Copyright 2023 - Liberty Wildlife, Inc. | 2600 E. Elwood St. Phoenix, AZ 85040
  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Youtube
Scroll to top